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Wednesday, March 18, 2009

GOVERNOR PATRICK NOMINATES THREE ACCOMPLISHED ATTORNEYS TO THE SUPERIOR COURT

BOSTON – Wednesday, March 18, 2009 – Governor Patrick today announced the nomination of three experienced litigators to the Superior Court: Mitchell H. Kaplan, a Newton resident and a partner at a major Boston law firm; Janet Kenton-Walker a Sutton resident, who has practiced civil and criminal litigation throughout the Commonwealth; and Thomas F. McGuire, a Fall River resident and veteran Bristol County litigator.

“Each of these attorneys is well known for their top-notch legal skills, even temperament, high integrity and long-standing commitment to justice that will serve all of us well on the bench,” said Governor Patrick.

Mitchell Kaplan is a Partner with the Boston Law firm of Choate, Hall & Stewart. Along with his extensive complex business and commercial trial and litigation practice, Kaplan has dedicated significant time to pro bono matters throughout his career. He has directed Choate’s pro bono program for 15 years, is a long-time Director of the Greater Boston Legal Services and the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights, formerly co-chaired the Delivery of Legal Services Section of the Boston Bar Association, and served on the Board of Bar Overseers. A graduate of Colby College and Cornell Law School, Kaplan began his career as an associate with Hutchins & Wheeler and then served as a Law Clerk to the Honorable Joseph L. Tauro of the United States District Court. He is slated to fill the vacancy on the Superior Court created by the retirement of the Honorable Paul A. Chernoff.

Janet Kenton-Walker is of-counsel with the Boston Law Collaborative. Kenton-Walker is a highly experienced trial attorney, whose areas of practice include domestic relations and family law, business litigation, real estate, criminal defense, and general civil litigation. Before joining the BLC, Kenton-Walker worked for nine years at the law firm of Klieman, Lyons, Schindler & Gross, where she managed the firm’s litigation. Earlier in her career she worked for the Committee for Public Counsel Services in Springfield. Kenton-Walker served on the Board of Bar Overseers and was the past Chair of the Board for the Massachusetts Legal Assistance Corporation. In addition, Kenton-Walker is a past Secretary and Vice-President of the Massachusetts Bar Association, Trustee of the Massachusetts Bar Foundation, and a former President of the Hampshire County Bar Association. She is a graduate of Mt. Holyoke College and Suffolk University Law School. Kenton-Walker is slated to fill the vacancy on the Superior Court created by the retirement of the Honorable Isaac Borenstein.

Thomas McGuire, a graduate of Boston College and Suffolk University Law School, is a Bristol County litigator with over twenty-five years of experience. In addition to the representation of individuals and small businesses, McGuire’s varied civil practice includes serving as Corporation Counsel for the City of Fall River and as Massachusetts Counsel to Webster Bank, N.A. Early in his career, McGuire also handled a number of criminal defense matters. A Life Fellow of the Massachusetts Bar Foundation, McGuire’s pro bono work has included helping to establish Hope House, a facility for AIDS patients, and creating charitable trusts in memory of police officers killed in the line of duty. McGuire is slated to fill the vacancy on the Superior Court created by the retirement of the Honorable Ernest B. Murphy.

Recommended Reading

Veteran Ben LaGuer

Let me finally return to Dwight Macdonald and the responsibility of intellectuals. Macdonald quotes an interview with a death-camp paymaster who burst into tears when told that the Russians would hang him. "Why should they? What have I done?" he asked. Macdonald concludes: "Only those who are willing to resist authority themselves when it conflicts too intolerably with their personal moral code, only they have the right to condemn the death-camp paymaster." The question, "What have I done?" is one that we may well ask ourselves, as we read each day of fresh atrocities in Vietnam—as we create, or mouth, or tolerate the deceptions that will be used to justify the next defense of freedom.

– Chomsky, The Responsibility of Intellectuals 1967

Words to Remember:

"Juris praecepta sunt haec: honeste vivere; alterum non laedere; suum cuique tribuere"(These are the precepts of the law: To live honorably; to hurt nobody; to render to every one his due.)

"No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws." -Section 1 of the 14th amendment to the US Constitution

Never Forgotten; Sadly Missed

Lawrence King

GLBT Legends

Paul McMahon and Ralph Hodgdon in 2007

"If you want to be important -- wonderful. If you want to be recognized -- wonderful. If you want to be great -- wonderful. But, recognize that he who is greatest among you shall be your servant. That's a new definition of greatness." -Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

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